Chapter 112: Discovery

On February 5, an unusually fierce sandstorm swept over the skies of Perran City. The heavens were a blur; though not so dense as to blot out the world entirely, visibility had fallen to barely a dozen meters.

According to the weather analysis on his identity bracelet, this was caused by repeated antimatter main-cannon strikes on Stone Mountain Star in the days before. For reasons of wind and air currents, a portion of the shattered dust had been carried across Perran City.

David, however, knew that was not the truth, because Miron had left him a message with news he had heard from his father.

Several second-class insectoids had departed the occupied city before the antimatter cannon strikes and were discovered yesterday hundreds of kilometers away from Perran City.

Then came the frantic bombardment from the cannon in space. Not a single one of those second-class insectoids escaped, and this strange change in the weather was also the result of those strikes.

Even then, the antimatter cannon had held back somewhat. In truth, whenever second-class insectoids were discovered in the wild, and the odds were uncertain, the antimatter main cannon was the best means of attack.

Of course, second-class insectoids could not appear near the kryptonite crystal mining zone. Once they did, the only means of attack left would be ground forces.

Only after hearing this did David truly feel the terror of the interstellar age.

The battles he had encountered recently had given him the illusion that the most powerful things in the Interstellar Federation were armor warriors and all manner of cold weapons, and that even long-range sniper cannons were formidable only because they fired first- and second-grade ammunition.

But in truth, the true superweapons were not often used, because of energy concerns and various reasons David did not fully understand. They were reserved only for space blockade.

That was also why the Interstellar Federation had been able to contain the insectoids for countless years, and why the theater of war on Battle Star had been confined to Stone Mountain Star.

Before this, David had felt a little like a frog at the bottom of a well, though his desire to become an armor warrior had not diminished in the slightest.

The middle-tier server sent him images from the hideout, and at the same time David received a warning that someone was attempting to break through the security system with electronic countermeasures.

He shut off his identity bracelet. He did not want anything to go wrong at the hideout. It seemed someone had traced the property record to him and had gone there to investigate.

David slung the second-grade twin swords onto his back, took the case containing the second-grade spear, and boarded the Type Two Land Tiger armored vehicle.

The moment the armored vehicle burst from the garage, he realized the trouble for the day: the heavy flying sand was affecting the accuracy of many electronic devices.

In this weather, even the sky-net system could not function precisely. No wonder someone had chosen such a day to investigate his hideout.

David was in such a hurry not because he intended to attack the investigators, but because he wanted to observe from nearby. If anyone broke into that building, the two defensive heavy machine guns would surely leave them with an unforgettable memory.

Under a barrage of forty thousand rounds, two defensive heavy machine guns firing twenty thousand rounds a minute, anyone not wearing exoskeleton armor would have almost no chance of surviving.

David was simply waiting for Shadow Attendant to absorb soul energy, and perhaps, if luck was on his side, to gain some useful ability.

Of course, the Type Two Land Tiger armored vehicle itself was also extremely formidable in attack. If the intruders were wounded but not dead, David could use the vehicle to finish them off.

Though the flying sand was intense, the Type Two Land Tiger armored vehicle remained remarkably steady and soon reached the vicinity of the hideout.

David did not choose to draw close. Instead, he released the vehicle-mounted reconnaissance and scanning drone.

Sitting inside the vehicle, he watched the data transmitted back by the drone, which appeared in multiple formats on the display in front of the vehicle.

There was thermal imaging, graphical scan imaging, electronic scan imaging, and more. By sending back the results of scans taken through various methods, it allowed David to make a more accurate judgment.

In this weather, the thermal image showed two red figures outside the hideout. Since the structure had been designed entirely to military standards, breaking in was extremely difficult.

These two red thermal silhouettes were circling the hideout, apparently searching for a suitable point of entry.

David, however, looked to the electronic scan imaging, where there was feedback from metal detection.

This was a military-grade reconnaissance and scanning drone, capable of accurately scanning special metal materials within its range. David had already seen feedback indicating first-grade metal, as well as alloy feedback from exoskeleton armor.

Fortunately, the exoskeleton armor alloy was not on the two men themselves, but placed in a nearby hover car.

The first-grade metal was integrated with the two thermal signatures, which meant the two men were carrying first-grade weapons.

A cold smile appeared on David's face. These two mercenaries were probably being far too cautious.

He activated the K2 military electronic countermeasure device, directly connected it to the hideout's security system, and then used that system to connect to the middle-tier server at home.

At the same time, the military electronic equipment within the hideout activated. This device, which emitted a stronger electronic signal than the K2 military electronic countermeasure unit, was rather large and could only be placed in a fixed location.

Its original purpose was to generate an electronic signal barrier, but in the hands of an electronic warfare master like David, it had become the most powerful tool for amplifying electronic signals.

An electronic signal invisible to the naked eye shot toward the hover car parked nearby. Without military electronic equipment, David would have had to approach the hover car with the K2 unit in order to infiltrate it.

But there were two armor warriors there; approaching the hover car without being noticed was virtually impossible.

Now, however, because he was near a hideout designed and manufactured by the military, the task became much simpler.

Once the electronic signal entered the hover car, how could a vehicle temporarily borrowed by two mercenaries possibly withstand the intrusion of an electronic warfare master with ninety-eight percent proficiency?

At that moment, the two armor warriors seemed to have come up with a plan. One of them took out a special signal jammer and fixed it to the wall.

Though the wall was very high, the two of them could scale it without exoskeleton armor. However, above the wall was an electronic defense net sealing off the entire sky. Anyone who touched it would immediately trigger an alarm.

The style here was clearly military. They did not want to trip the alarm and draw the military's attention.

If this had been an ordinary residence, they would already have used a signal breaker to smash through the security system.

The signal jammer detected the electronic defense signals emitted by the hideout, then began to synchronize, disguising itself as part of the electronic defense net.

Watching the information fed back by the security system, David could not help but sigh inwardly. One must never underestimate others, no matter the circumstances.

These two men were clearly not professional electronic warfare experts, yet by relying on such a small device, they were able to affect a military-grade security system.

It seemed that the little signal jammer had been crafted by a powerful electronic warfare master. Though David had never made anything of the same kind, he understood the underlying principles and could reverse-engineer the device's blueprints.

Shaking his head, he paid the two armor warriors no further attention and concentrated on the hover car.

It took him less than three seconds to infiltrate it. For a civilian hover car, the security system was exceedingly simple.

"Let me give you a little surprise." A smile appeared on David's face. With a slight movement of his finger, the smart housekeeper inside the hideout activated the dust-cleaning function. A force of repulsion surged through the components embedded in the walls of the two-story house, blasting all the dust from the walls and ceiling.

This sudden accident startled the two armor warriors. They quickly raised their weapons and took a defensive stance.

"The automatic cleaning system has kicked in. Maybe the dust around the house reached the critical threshold and activated the dust-cleaning program!" one of the armor warriors said softly, glancing at the environment now obscured to only a few meters by the suddenly stirred-up dust.

They did not see that while all their attention was drawn by the anomaly, their hover car was slowly rising upward at the lowest possible power.

David had forcibly taken all permissions for the hover car. The vehicle now had clearance to fly into the air, and of course David had also used his E-level authority to send a request for ascent to the sky-net.

The sky-net recognized David's E-level authority and did not react to the hover car's abnormal takeoff.